Incubator.



E. A. MAISCILy INCUBATOB.. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23, 1909.

Patented 001'.. 26, 1909.

'l' lZ 2f# l @r 2.5)./ /f/ /N VE N TOR ATTOHNE V8 EDWARD AUGUST MAISCH, OF lANDERSON, CALIFORNIA.

INCUBATOR.

Application led January 23 1909.

i Specication of Letters Patent.

Fatented (Ict. 26, 1909.

serian No. 473,862.

To all whom 'it 'ma/y concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD AUGUST Maison, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Anderson, in the county of Shasta and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Incubator, of whichtlie following is a full, clear, and eX- act description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in electrically heated incubators, and more particularly to the construction of the heating coils and the egg-supporting trays.

A further important feature of the invention relates to the means for automatically maintaining the temperature constant.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures, and in which- Figure 1 is an end view of an incubator constructed in accordance with my invention, the door and door jamb thereof being removed; Fig. 2 is a top plan View of one of the heating coils; and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of my improved heat-regulating mechanism.

The walls of my improved incubator may be formed of any suitable material, and the incubator may be made of any suitable size, but for purposes of illustration, I have shown the body or walls of the incubator in the form of a wooden boX having side walls 10, a top wall 11, and a bottom wall 12.

Vithin the incubator I mount a plurality of coils 'of electric wire, which serve as the heating coils, and adjacent each heating coil is a tray, shelf, or'support for the eggs. These coils and also the trays are readlly removable and both are preferably supported from the same cleats or guideways. As shown, the two side walls have cleats or guiding and supporting strips 13 secured to the inner surface thereof and arranged in pairs upon substantially the same level. The strips of each pair serve to directly support a tray or shelf 14 upon which the eggs are placed, and in the opposed faces of the two cleats are grooves within which slides the support for the heating coils. This support,

as illustrated, comprises a frame 15 of wood,

or metal properly insulated, of a width slightly less tlianthat of the incubator, and slidably mounted in the grooves in the cleats 13, so as to be 'normally disposed substantially parallel to the shelf or tray supported by the same cleats. The frames 15 serve to support the heating coils which are wound about the same lengthwise of the incubator, so that the wires of the successive turns lie parallel to each other and parallel to the supporting cleats 13. The wires of the heating coils thus present grids of parallel wires, and each heating coil serves to heat the tray below as well as the tray above. The trays for automatically controlling the current.

This regulator is controllable from the outside and is of the form illustrated in Fig. 3. One terminal of the electric circuit is connected to a cup 18 containing mercury, and the other terminal is connected to the pivotal support 19 of a rod or bar 20. One end of the rod is adapted to dip into the mercury and the other end of the rod carries a counterbalancing weight 21.

Within the incubator is a thermostat 22 formed of two separate pieces of metal having different co-eficients of expansion and rigidly secured together. The thermostat is rigidly supported at one end and its free end tends to swing upwardly upon an increase in temperature. The free end of the thermostat carries a rod 23 which may engage with the lower end of a regulating screw 24 carried by the rod 20, so as to lift the end of the rod out of the cup of mercury. Thus, as the temperature increases beyond a predetermined limit, the circuit is broken by the lifting of the rod 2O and no more current will flow through the heating coils until the temperature has been reduced to the desired point. The temperature at which the circuit will be broken may be readily controlled by adjusting the position of the regulating screw, so that it will contact with the rod 23 after a greater or less movement of the latter. By means of this controlling means and... with the heating coils arranged substantially as illustrated, I can keep the temperature within the incubatoixsubstan- I do not wish to be limited to the specific l electric heating coils also supported by said form of device shown, as various changes may be made within the scope of my claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An incubator casing having aneggsup porting shelf o r tray, oppositely-disposed cleats or supporting said shelf' o r tray, and heating coils also supportedby said cleats.

2. An incubator having oppositely-disposed walls, cleats secured to the inner surfaces thereof, a shelf or tray thereinsupported by said cleats and detachable therefrom, and .electric heating coils also supported by said cleats. Y y

3. Anincubator having oppositely-disposed walls, cleats secured to the inner surfaces thereof, a shelf or tray supported by said cleats and detachable therefrom, and

cleats and removable therefrom.

4. An incubator having oppositely-disposed cleats, an egg-supporting shelf slidably mounted thereon, a frame having sliding engagement with said cleats beneath said.

shelf, anda heating coil wound 'about said frame and presenting upper and lower heat- 3o ing surfaces. l .i

5. An incubator having two egg-support in shelves, a frame disposed intermediate said shelves, and a heating coil wound about-v said frame and presenting upper and lower series of parallel wires constituting heating coils. 

